Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort

Born at Monmouth Castle, he entertained Queen Anne and the Prince Consort with splendour at Badminton in August 1702. He held aloof from public affairs until the fall of Sunderland heralded the collapse of the Whig Junto in 1710, when he is said to have remarked to the queen that he could at length call her a queen in reality. A thorough-going Tory, he was, after some opposition from Jonathan Swift, admitted a member of the "Brothers’ Club" on 21 February 1711. He was made captain of the gentlemen pensioners in 1712, and appointed a Knight of the Garter in October 1712.[1]

Dying at the age of thirty, on 24 May 1714, Beaufort was succeeded by his son Henry.[1] The 2nd Duke is buried at St Michael and All Angels Church, Badminton.

He married three times:

• On 7 July 1702 to Lady Mary Sackville, daughter of Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, who died 18 June 1705, with whom he had no issue;
• On 26 February 1706 to Lady Rachel Noel, daughter of Wriothesley Baptist Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough, who died 13 September 1709 after giving birth, and
• On 14 September 1711 at St Mary's Church, Wimbledon[2] to Lady Mary Osborne (d. 4 February 1722), daughter of Peregrine Osborne, 2nd Duke of Leeds, with whom he had no issue.

With his second wife he had two sons:

1. Henry Somerset, 3rd Duke of Beaufort his heir and successor; and
2. Charles Noel Somerset, 4th Duke of Beaufort his brother's heir and successor.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Somerset, Henry". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.